The Gila Cliff Dwellings will celebrate the 2nd annual National Archaeology Day on Saturday with a series of free workshops and tours at the national monument.

The Archaeological Institute of America has partnered with the Gila Cliff Dwellings to raise awareness of archaeology and to provide free educational opportunities to the public.

Two workshops will be offered at the Gila Visitor Center, one at 10:30 a.m. and one at 2:30 p.m. Park staff will discuss the basics of archaeology, lead hands-on demonstrations and provide a tour of the TJ site, which is normally closed to the public, giving visitors a chance to follow in the footprints of the ancestral peoples of the Mimbres Region who lived at the TJ site over a 900-year period from around 500 to 1400 CE (Common Era).

Two tours of the TJ site leave the Gila Visitor Center at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., and are limited to 20 people. The tours will take more than an hour and 10 spaces on each tour may be reserved in advance by calling the Gila Visitor Center at (575) 536-9461.

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Attendees must be at the visitor center 15 minutes before the tour begins and should come dressed in layers, as the mesa top can be cold and windy, and wear hiking boots, as the ground is rough and can be muddy.

The workshops and tours are free, but admission to the Cliff Dwellings costs $3 per person. As part of National Archaeology Day, Western National Parks Association will be giving a 15 percent discount on select archaeology books at the monument store. Teachers and senior Western National Parks Association members will receive the standard 20 percent discount.

For more information, call the Gila Visitor Center at (575) 536-9461 or visit www.nps.gov/gicl.

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